Community groups remain concerned about the case of Marissa Alexander, a woman who was given quite a few years in prison for a situation in which it appeared that she had no other options. Alexander received 20 years in prison after firing warning shots at a man who she believes had come to harm her. No one was hurt, but Alexander was still sent away for a very long time.

The incident took place in 2010 and Marissa says she was simply standing her ground in the state of Florida, where standing your ground appears to be legal. But the judge said he had no choice but to give the woman 20 years in prison, even though she is the mother of three children. The length of the sentence was due to the fact that she’d fired a gun while committing a felony.

Various groups have been fighting for Marissa’s release and say that her case is part of the reason that mandatory minimums should be abolished. They argue that since no one was hurt and she was only trying to protect herself from an abusive husband, her actions were entirely justified.

It was also suggested by the judge in this case that Ms. Alexander “could have found some other way to flee the home,” yet the law states that “those who feel threatened, have no duty to retreat,” further lending to the ambiguity of this judgment against Ms. Alexander.

Something has to be done regarding all women who defend themselves against their abusers. Too often they receive little understanding and sympathy from the systems supposedly set up to protect them. Women who are victims of domestic violence need a voice, and it is our intent to be that voice for Marissa and any other potential victim of domestic violence or any other form of injustice.

74 comments

Dear Sir or Madame,
I have followed this case with interest. It has seemed to be an unfair punishment in light that others have done so much worse and have escaped with much less terms. It appears to me clearly that she was in fear for her life and it is a shame that she had to make this choice to survive only to spend time in jail as a result. Please at least reevaluate this case and give her an opportunity to live out the rest of her life in peace. The people of America are watching this case. Prove to us there is real justice in America. We are appalled at how some clear;y guilt people get away with murder and people like Marissa Alexander suffer.
Sincerely,
Lori Pack

Wow, even when the actual facts are presented to some of you, people are STILL trying to defend this woman! what is wrong with you people? When stuff like this happens and a few ignorant writers half ass report the facts some of us automatically assume they are right and cry racism! This is the reason why real cases are ignored and whites look at us as playing the race card.

When dumbass reports come out with partial information and we rush to judgement we lose creditably as a whole.

I bet not even half the people who commented on this did not bother to read what actually happened, even when it is right in front of your faces.

One more thing, would you feel the same way if she had shot one of the kids?

Do what they said she call for a 20yr sentence, I guess they need another body to contribute to our prison industry(high tech slavery). There is no justification for this sentence. This is why this gov’t is broke because we want to warehouse people the highest in the world

Wow did you even read what you wrote? You clearly do not believe in what is right. Like the others you did not read the transcripts where she admitted what she did and the two Children and ex testified at court, she was also arrested again after attacking the man a second time at a residence where she did not live scratching his face. She was attacking a black man someone you seem to think deserves death, but you have nothing to say about a black woman who pulls a gun in front of her black children and fires a bullet in their direction…..who is the real sellout.

S**t where the f**k is Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Cornell West, and of course President Obama and the rest of the soap-box, grand-standing N****s in this case of abuse and miss justice. There apparently is no political nor professional journalistic gains to be accomplished.

Alley Sharptongue, Messy Jessy and the other screachas are probably eatin’ some gospel bird (chicken). They’re getting their lips greasy instead of fighting for this Black lady.

The article clearly states, she was PROTECTING herself from an ABUSIVE negroid, and she FIRED IN THE AIR as a warning! SHE DID NOT FIRE AT THE NEGROID!!!

These negroids, such as, african-amerikkkan-defender (fb), who claim this woman was wrong need to take off the white sheet, and quit playin’. YOU AIN’T BLACK, BOY

A caucasoid female shot a Black man, who was in her house FIVE TIMES!!! How come she was granted the ‘stand your ground law’, but this Black woman is in jail for 20 years STANDING HER GROUND? The bottom line is this…the cracker shot a negro, and she is considered a hero (article).

Another Black man is in jail RIGHT NOW for STANDING HIS GROUND, but he shot a white boy! DO THE MATH! It’s okay for crackers to shoot and kill Black men, but when we protect our house and family against a cracker…we go to jail!

O’Drama is probably kissing some caucasoid’s azz, while smiling at the same time!

FVCK THIS LAW…IT ONLY PROTECTS THESE RACIST CRACKERS, WHO KILL BLACK PEOPLE!!!

Well, Derrick you would rather read the article an ignore the actual court transcript. Seems the only racist here is you. You don’t give a damn about justice for black people. You conveniently pick and choose your victims because that what you are used to doing. You are the self hater because when it comes to justice for black men you don’t believe in it. You take a one sided view simply because you read a news article, seems to me your pretty dumb as well as a racist self hating black man.

Maybe you people should read the actual cour transcripts on Jamine Adres Pretell’s post. You don’t know the facts of the case and your knee jerk reaction is to cry racism, when in fact her victims were black and two of them black children. The man never touched the woman or prevented her from leaving. Even after this incident according to the fact and court records, she went to another residence which was not hers and physically attacked the man. You people are so uninformed and and just reactionary…..it’s amazing to read the things you wrote even though you knew none of the facts.

Many of you were saying that you wished that she had killed the man…what kind of monsters are you people? You wish death on someone you don’t know just because you read a sentence in an article? Your what’s wrong with this country and you are just looking for a reason for someone else to die just for your amusement. You could give a rat’s ass about the fact that this woman fired a handgun in the direction of two children…..her own. You could care less if she was in no immediate danger. Some bleeding heart dummies bought her line and they want to make this black man responsible for her actions. Yes they were both abusive to each other at some point but not on this day. She became the abuser and the attempted murderer. And she was the abuser on a subsequent occasion. So according to you people she shouldn’t have to answer for her crimes.

I'd like to see ColorofChange get involved in this case. This woman has been in jail far longer then she should ever have been, while her children grow up without her, particularly her baby. This should be a clear cut case of "Stand Your Ground" and the Prosecutor should have known better then to try this case. And we're supposed to trust that same Prosecutor to try the Trayvon Martin case? Yes, folks we should be worried.

She was charged with Three counts of Aggrivated assault with a deadly weapon. She fired a weapon at the man and his two young sons. She claims she was the victim, but own testimony and that of the children and her ex showed that she was not in any fear of her life when walked into the garage retrieved a hand gun from her car and came back into the house and fired the weapon at all three victims, which included the two children. The bullet barely missed the head of her ex. She did not live in the residence two months prior to the incident and went there while the man and his sons were out. They came back the next day and she was showing him pictures of what she said was their new child. But he also discovered text from her ex husband and begin to say he doubted the child was his. They got into and argument while she was in the bathroom.she tried to exit the bathroom while he stood in the doorway. She squeezed around him and went into the master bedroom.

Her ex went into the kitchen where he had made breakfast for his two sons. She was still in the master bedroom. She then left the master bedroom went out into the garage and got a gun from her car’s glove compartment. She walked back into the house and into the kitchen. She pointed the gun at all three of them and fired the weapon. This is your unjustly convicted woman. Really?

she never should have gone to jail in the first place, now if she had fired at him and killed him yes, but she didn’t. Effed up set of rules that they can use when they want to get the desired result they want, SICK SAD WRONG on all levels of humanity

She went to the home where she was not living….got into an argument, went to her car in the garage and got a gun from the glove compartment. She then reentered the home walked into the kitchen aimed the gun in the direction of the man and his children and opened fire. She could have hit one of the children but missed, wherein the man took his children and fled.

I guess that same inaccurate legally recorded story is sufficient enough for the court not to release her. Again she will not be released again after the evidence is represented again yet one more time. I don't think the courts are interested in what the court of misinformed public opinion has to say. This time it about the facts. You people get on these pages and attack black men all the time and use the he was an abuser defense like it's a magic bullet to try and free criminals who harm the black community. She aimed a gun at this man and his and her children and fired that weapon at them because she was angry and not because she was in threat of her life. If this was a black man you would be saying off with his head. And so many of you jumped on this thread saying that he should have been killed, yet few of you knew any facts about this case. This behavior is inconsistent and hypocritical on theaft of many of the commenters here.

After reading the facts of the case this woman is guilty as sin. And people are on here defending her and really know nothing about what really happened. She was standing her ground. She went into the garage got a gun and came back into the house that she did not live in and shot at this man in front of his children…..Amazing what people will say to set the guilty free.

Were you there? No…so what makes YOU right and everyone else wrong? Or do you believe everything you read? Because if that's the case….you're as dumb as a box of rocks! If you weren't there, then you, like everyone else, don't really know what happened, so STFU! House N!

And you would be dead wrong. I know the facts of the case. Her husband was known to be abusive, was not supposed to be any where near her, and she shot INTO THE AIR to get him to leave. Therefore, what exactly is she guility of, sir? This woman is doing 20 years for shooting in the air and you think that makes sense? Then something is clearly wrong with you!

By the way, the Prosecutor said that the reason she could not use "stand your ground" in this case, was because the state felt the woman was not in danger at that moment. Yes, I do know about this case and followed it from the beginning. Now. Take a seat and let the adults in this group discuss this case.

Karen Whittle
You obviously haven't if you haven't explored what the law is, in the first place. Not just your emotions. I don't think the guy was a saint, but there are venues for persecuting abusers. She did not follow them and disobeyed court orders telling her to leave him alone. She did this to herself.

Again Karen someone who does not know the facts of the case. He didn't come to her she came to his home and entered the house she had not been living there for two months. He comes home to find her in the house when he returns with his children. Also the bullet was not fired into the air but went through the kitchen wall into the living room. Did you not read the official transcript of the case?

And you were there huh, Eric…..you saw the whole thing with you own to eyes and can clearly be the judge. You haven't looked at any other evidence but this article, but you know what happened. Maybe when say some about people being dumb you should first look in the mirror, I'm sure you will find a real idiot looking back at you. Your a piece of work and part of what is hurting the black community. You dont give a damn about justice for black people including this man the victim and the two black male children who were also victims.

Jaime, the only obvious thing here is that you are choosing to see what you want to see in this case, and while there may be "venues for persecuting abusers" more often then not they get a slap on the wrist since it's a he said/she said scenario, and it's the women and children who suffer instead. She did what she felt she had to do at the time to protect herself and her children. As usual the abuser comes out completely unscathed while the abused is the one who suffers. By the way, the abuser has changed his story twice, so obviously you are reading what you choose to read, and ignoring all else. Typical.

African-American Defender They are her children too, or did you miss that fact, and the fact that one of those children was just days old. If you knew anything about the mind of an abuse victim you would not be saying the things you are. Instead you are siding with the abuser, something that is not unusual for jurors or the legal system in general. While I know black men do have the right not to be victims, I also know that they also have the responsibility not to victimize.

Jaime Andres Pretell and this indicates that she was indeed a resident of the home at the time of the incident, although she had been staying at her mother's home because of an argument "According to a sworn deposition taken in November 2010, Gray, 36, said that on August 1, 2010, he and Alexander began fighting after he found text messages to Alexander's first husband on her phone. The two were already estranged – according to her father, Alexander had been living at her mother's since the birth of the couple's daughter nine days earlier, and Gray, a long-haul trucker, said he spent the night before in his tractor-trailer. Gray began calling her names, saying "If I can't have you, nobody going to have you," and blocking her from exiting the bathroom." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57434757-504083/fla-woman-marissa-alexander-gets-20-years-for-warning-shot-did-she-stand-her-ground/

Your still quoting from news media reports and not the official court record. I guess the media always gives the facts right? The judge in the case in his own words said the woman fired the shot and it passed through the kitchen wall into the living room. I guess forensics got it wrong. She had not been according to the judge and her own testimony living in the home for months. Also according to the judge who denied her motion, she was not being restrained and could have left the home through the front or rear door which were both unobstructed and yet chose to go into the garage and bring a loaded weapon from her car in the garage into the home and aim it toward the man and the children. You would rather quote media sources and to actually look at records and minutes recorded in a court room. I know who was one of the abusers in this case and it was her. She had gotten a restraining order against him yet chose to go back into the home where he had been living and where she hadn't been for months. She was also arrested a second time for going to a place where this man was, again not her home where she attacked him a second time and this was something else the judge in the official transcript quoted. So what else do you want to be ignored. You pay no attention to the man behind the screen kind of stuff.

The only difference between you and I is you look out for the rights of black women and I look out for the rights of both black women and black men. I do agree that they gave her a lot of time, but I also know that even in Florida they get good time for behaving and that usually cuts the sentence in half. She will not do 20 years. She claims to be the victim of abuse, but here she is twice doing the abusive acts against the man claims to have been her abuser. She may have been a victim of his abuse at one time or another that gave her no right to become an abuser herself and try to use the law to justify her behavior. He was a victim as well. you actually said I'm blaming the victim…….exactly what is your argument about this man? You blame him and say He was the reason it took place? It's his fault? Whose really blaming the victime here? You totally take any responsibility away from this woman and her actions and it seems you condone those very acts.

Finally yes they were her children who she pointed a loaded gun in their direction, also they were the two other victims in this case, not just the man she was charged with 3 counts of assault with a deadly weapon. Yes that's right against 3 people. Just so happens one of them was a grown man. Again you don't think they had photos in court of the bullet holes in the kitchen and living room walls. Right…………………!

Again Karen your not sticking to the facts. The child that was days old was not even in the home at the time. She was showing him pictures of her on her cell phone the two young males were with them. I quess you like twisting the facts. This way so that you can defend the indefensible.

And finally Eric, you seem to get a perverse Sence of pleasure out of black men being attacked. And you call black men who speak up in their defense house niggers. Your a clown, and that's the best you got to offer the world. you should just go back into your whole like the snake you are. Just sayin…..

Thanks for putting the facts out there…..what is amazing is that the people making judgement on this case probably read the court transcripts that show that this defense is clearly not appropriate for this case. This woman left the interior of the home to get a weapon and came back into the home and fired a gun at this man in his own home in front of his children.

African-American Defender Again she did not first "at" the man, but fired above his head to force him to leave, since he was refusing to. While you may seeing nothing wrong with this, there clearly is to far more people, and you are simply wrong here.

Karen Whittle, then you are a fool. By law, you have a right to defend yourself and try to escape. Or under stand your ground, you have a right not to need to escape. The law does not give you a right to leave, go get a weapon, and go back to a combustive situation and then claim defense.

Karen she was in his home, the bullet went through the kitchen wall and into the loving room. But you said she fired into the air. She point the gun in the direction of the man and the two children and fired missing the man's head by inches. Why should he leave his own home she didn't even live there. If anyone should have left it should have been her. Went she was not being accosted by the man she was in the master berrom and he in the kitchen with the kids. She left the master bedroom and went to the garage and got a gun and came back into the house. Again Jamie Andres Pretell's presented the actual court transcript. Where is your evidence?

She had escaped over and over again, and still this man victimized her. She did what she felt she had to do to be able to protect herself and her children, whether you want to believe it or not. You are the fool here, and hopefully you will never have to find out just how foolish you are by a family member of your's becoming a victim of systemic domestic violence.

African-American Defender Oh, I'm sorry. If it went through the wall and not through him, then she was indeed shooting in the air. LOL! You are going with the Prosecutions version of what happened and not the facts. Typical. What worries me here is that your vociferous defense of the indefensible makes me wonder if you know first hand how an abuser feels?

only in the racist state of Florida would a ignorant white judeg and a racist ignorant district attorney do such a stupid thing. But why they don't do the same to white women? What ignorant judge did this? dumb ass should be barred forever and the district attorney, white people!

Damn she shouldve just shot his ass at least in the leg 'while fleeing' according to him! Would that be attempted justifiable homicide your Honor or Self Defense? Madness! And a mom of 3….let her go hm Florida!

This is such an injustice! I pray that all my fb friends and family will join in signing this petition and reposting this story to help set Ms Alexander free. If you have ever been abused or know someone that has please support this cause.

Look like the stand your ground Law in Florida is only for certain races. To me, it seems that if he was the one with the gun he would be able to walk away. I hope that the F B I get involved and check into Florida's stand your grounds law.

Jaime Andres Pretell How the press chooses to report this stuff is hardly the fault of the perps in these crimes, much less the fault of their victims, and you aren't helping with all your race-baiting. You're on the same side as the people who used to hang black folks for fun and then make postcards out of the photos. You really don't have a leg to stand upon.

Pyres I do and guess what else Karen, I know that black men are victim of domestic violence by black women which was the case here. You act like men are the only perpetrators. Your logic says that the woman can never be wrong it's always the man. Who really dosen't understand domestic violence. You had nothing to say about the woman's second arrest after this incident where she clearly went to another residence that was not here's and where she knew the man was and proceeded to assault him yet again. So what do you know about domestic violence? Or are just another man hating women who has a need to make men look (especially black men) look bad.

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